Euro 2024 Diary: How effective Leadership becomes vital for victory
Effective Leadership helps teams achieve goals as Gareth Southgate's England gear up for momentous semi-final clash vs The Netherlands in Dortmund
Hello, Happy Tuesday, as I gear up to fly back to Germany this evening ahead of covering England vs The Netherlands on Wednesday.
Gareth Southgate’s side have somehow made it to the last four, where in Dortmund 24 hours from now, the Three Lions will be aiming to make it to a second successive Euro final, as well as a first one abroad in the team’s history.
How they’ve survived so far is due to, well, a strong defence, an improbable last minute overhead kick, a fighting display against the Swiss and calm heads when it came to the penalty shootout.
And, I’d venture, leadership.
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June 30, EURO 2024 - Round of 16 - England v Slovakia - England manager Gareth Southgate. CREDIT: Simon Stacpoole / Offside
Fascination with concept of Leadership
In my dark and distant past I worked in banking in The City of London - as well as Sydney - prior to studying for a Masters degree. A Masters in Business Administration, known as an MBA.
The numbers show that businesses love it, and students can’t get enough of it.
They told us that having an ‘MBA’ on your CV would help you stand out in a crowded market to employers - but that the true meaning of the MBA went beyond three letters on a sheet.
During an MBA, you would build your business knowledge, grow your professional network, and boost your career - and salary prospects.
So they said. So I spent a cool £20,000 on it.
The reality was that I made some really good friends from all around the world on the gruelling one year course - and we still keep in touch now.
I’m planning on catching up with my America mate from Seattle during the 2026 World Cup. I’ve got another pal in Canada that I want to visit, while I keep threatening to catch up pals everywhere from Madrid to Thailand.
However, in terms of career progression, the only thing I can say is that ‘becoming an MBA’ helped me decide that working in The City for the rest of my life simply wasn’t for me. Not least because I hate numbers.
I’d always preferred writing, and the raft of essays we had to write across a huge section of different modules - not to mention a life-changing month in Uganda, but that’s a story for another day - convinced me that I should follow my career dreams of becoming a journalist. Which I did. Which is also a story for another day.
But what I’ll mostly take from studying for an MBA was a fascination with the concept of leadership.
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Leadership
First introduced by Harvard Business School in 1908, the MBA is the original graduate degree offered by business schools globally.
Some of the modules we studied included project management, management, business analytics, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, and HR - as well as all manner of specialisations including accounting, business communication, business ethics, business strategy, data analytics, economics, finance, marketing, operations and leadership.
My favourite by far was the Leadership module - because you could apply it to the real world.
You could use it to analyse the decisions you made, decisions your boss made, use it to decode management behaviour, not to mention staff motivation.
And because the same principles of leadership apply to sport.
Specifically managers and head coaches. And their different styles of managing.
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July 6, 2024, Euro 2024 Quarter-Final - England v Switzerland - England manager Gareth Southgate. CREDIT: Charlotte Wilson / Offside
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Leadership is Vital
With the Euro 2024 semi-final looming large, Gareth Southgate’s England have a huge chance to win this competition.
Why? Well the obvious answer is that we have a collection of superb footballers. The best since, well, Euro 2020. And prior to that, 1966 perhaps. Certainly 1970.
But having a collection of outstanding players doesn’t guarantee success. Look at our performances so far.
And it’s not just England. Otherwise the great Brazil side of 1982 would have won the World Cup in Spain.
What makes a great football team?
Skill, talent, technique, temperament, tactics, fitness, character - mental strength, motivation - a refusal to accept defeat, luck, a good draw, weak(er) opponents, excellent support - I’m sure you’ll have your own offerings too.
But what else?
Leadership, I’d say.
Show me a team that has won big tournaments with a poor manager.
It simply doesn’t happen.
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June 27, 1984, European Football Championship Final - France v Spain - Captain Michel Platini walks off the pitch, leaving the other French players to continue the victory celebrations. CREDIT: Mark Leech / OFFSIDE
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Those of us of a certain vintage recall Michel Hidalgo guiding France to the 1984. Although you could argue Michel Platini won the tournament single-handedly with nine goals in five games - we can all remember great players failing to shine in tournaments, when they should have won their way to glory.
Hidalgo empowered Platini to play at his maximum, gave him the motivation to allow his talents - and all the other variable factors - to align, so that Les Bleues lifted that tournament in a raft of memorable displays.
Likewise, Rinus Michels four years later with the Netherlands.
Who can still recall Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman and Arnold Muhren et al powering their way to silverware.
But who can also recall the Oranje failing to qualify for the 1984 Euros as well as the 1986 World Cup in Mexico - under the same manager? Or, say, imploding at Euro 96 under Guus Hiddinck? Who was to guide South Korea to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup?
So, perhaps we can add the element of fortune, being the right appointment at the right time with the right team.
The stars aligning by having the right team being managed by the right leader at the right time in their cycle.
By having the right mix of young players willing to learn under a leader, while also containing a number of more experienced heads also willing to ‘buy into’ a leader’s ethos and principles.
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June 25, 2024 - UEFA EURO 2024 - Group C - England v Slovenia - England manager Gareth Southgate. CREDIT: Simon Stacpoole / Offside
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Leadership sets team culture
Leadership sets culture - the way you play, the way you think, the way you behave, standards and norms. What is acceptable, what is deemed unacceptable by the leader/leadership group, what motivates the group ethic.
Leadership is hugely important for driving progress.
Having attended Southgate’s post-match press conference in a sweltering Cologne in the aftermath of England’s hugely disappointing 0-0 with Slovenia, the poor man looked broken.
As you would be if someone hurled beer at you, despite having led England to their best results in decades, albeit without silverware, and in a cautious manner.
It goes without saying that no-one deserves to have been on the end of what Southgate endured after that match in Cologne, and it was unsurprising the England boss looked so low.
But, as all the best, most instinctive, most effective leaders do, they deflected issues from the team, from the core, from the group, and became the focal point of negativity, thus shielding the players from abuse.
Southgate’s quotes from this week, looking back on that unpleasant, but pivotal moment in England’s fortunes during this tournament, reveal plenty.
“Look, I can’t deny that some of the personal nature,” the England boss said in the build up the facing The Netherlands, adding: “this is a job where you get ridiculed and your professional capability is questioned beyond belief - and I don’t think it’s normal to have beer thrown at you either.
“I’m fortunate my life’s taken me through a lot of resilience-building and it’s made me more determined and I’m just using it as fuel.
“I know where I want to take the team to, and yeah, the team needs to see me strong in those moments as well, otherwise that messaging that you’re giving them on what they need to be doesn’t ring true.”
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Leadership styles
Which made me think about Southgate’s leadership style.
I’m sure we’ve all got a view on it.
But in terms of leadership as a theory, there are plenty of different types of leadership styles.
There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ ways to lead. It depends on the specific set of variables you have in front of you.
But I’m sure we all recognise a few of the following, either in sport, or as bosses we’ve come across in our working lives.
Democratic Leadership,
Autocratic Leadership,
Laissez-faire Leadership,
Transformational Leadership,
Transactional Leadership,
Bureaucratic Leadership,
Servant Leadership,
Coach-style Leadership,
Charismatic Leadership,
Strategic Leadership.
I’ll be revisiting some of these and applying them to sport over the coming months but needless to say an effective leadership style is one that motivates and influences others to accomplish set goals - with the major tenet of an effective leadership style being the degree to which it builds follower trust.
In Southgate’s case, the way he motivates his players to achieve victory.
(Yes, we all want to play brilliantly, yet as France and The Netherlands would also attest, they haven’t been playing consistently well from day one of this tournament - at this level it’s simply all about winning.)
However, followers who trust in their leader are more likely to follow through with the leader’s instructions over and above the expected.
A leadership style adopted by any leader is usually a combination of their personality, life experiences, level of emotional intelligence, and way of thinking - all of which were packaged into Southgate’s quotes above.
It follows that a leader’s ability to take charge and know whether a situation requires an executive decision or a more consultative one is vital.
Meaning you won’t ever see Southgate in the middle of a huddle of 30 players and support staff, thumping his chest and shouting at his men before extra time, or penalties.
July 6, 2024, Dusseldorf - UEFA EUROs - Quarter-Final - England v Switzerland - Bukayo Saka of England celebrates after scoring a penalty in the penalty shoot out. CREDIT: Charlotte Wilson / Offside
Southgate’s style is more consultative, more about the details, more about empathy.
Which is why those images of him hugging Bukayo Saka in support at Wembley in July 2021 have been contrasted with those of hugging the Arsenal man in deep joy in Dusseldorf in July 2024.
And which is why all his players have hailed his leadership style, the latest of which was Luke Shaw - who Southgate has stood by in the knowledge that the United left-back will improve the side, which he did in the stirring cameo appearance he made late on against the Swiss.
Of course, it would be so different if Bellingham’s overhead kick hadn’t gone in, or the player hadn't even attempted it. Or if Saka’s late strike hadn’t gone in, or if any of the penalties had missed, leading to another miserable quarter-final defeat.
But the fact is they didn’t. And yes, it was down to effective planning, generational talent, form, fitness, and luck - but it was also down to leadership.
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It is the ‘Impossible Job’, but before someone thinks about throwing beer at such an important figure who deserves far more respect than he has been given recently, know that there is so much more to Southgate’s leadership than simply going three at the back.
He’s understood his and his team’s motivational drivers, shown and understood emotional intelligence, while using communication methods to establish a personal leadership style. He’s already applied and adapted his leadership style to meet specific challenges.
He’s managed the conditions that drive team performance, he’s coached colleagues and shared feedback in ways that enable them to develop and deliver. He’s taken charge of his and his team’s professional development while navigating the challenges of transitioning from an individual contributor (as a player) to a leader.
Let’s hope it’s enough, because it anyone deserves success it is Southgate.
See you in Dortmund.
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DAILY LIST:
I) Take the dog for a walk
II) Make sure I get my flight from Heathrow to Dusseldorf this evening
III) Treat myself to a Lucas Podolski kebab (my cheap hotel is next to Dusseldorf Hauptbanhof)
IV) Get a train to Dortmund Wednesday lunchtime